The Marvel actor says that after playing a paedophile he was “much more sympathetic to anyone who is born with those urges,” and that it was no different from being gay.
Shan-Chi star Simu Liu has found himself in hot water after historic Reddit posts were unearthed where he equated paedophilia to homosexuality.
In 2015, Liu wrote that after playing a paedophile on screen he was “much more sympathetic to anyone who is born with those urges.”
“From a biological standpoint it’s no different than being gay — a small mutation in the genome that determines our sexual preferences,” he wrote.
He wrote that “taking advantage of minors is wrong. Disgusting and vile, even.” but said the medical treatment for paedophilia is not appropriate, in the same way, conversion therapy for homosexuality was misguided.
It is unclear why Liu felt the need to make the comparison with homosexuality, although the unearthing of the posts has been met with fierce criticism online.
Liu took to Twitter with a cryptic series of tweets addressing the controversy but stopped short of taking the issue head-on.
‘Twitter is a slanderous place sometimes, and it feels good to shut down trolls and bad faith actors who want to drag your name through the mud,’ Liu wrote.
‘Just a reminder that I do not ever EVER advocate for anything other than positivity,’ he wrote at the time. ‘Positive cultural pride, positive iterations of Asian masculinity and femininity — that means WE DON’T PUT EACH OTHER DOWN. Direct your frustration at the system that did this to ALL of us.’
In a separate tweet, Liu alluded to the 2015 posts but didn’t offer an apology saying the posts were reflective of an “immature version” of himself.
‘DISCLAIMER: If you dig back far enough, I’m sure you’ll find a more immature version of me who gave in to anger and hate,’ he continued. ‘It doesn’t make me a hypocrite; it makes me a human being. Mentalities evolve. We shift and we grow. And I want us all to grow the right way.’
